Bakers signal increase in bread prices
Lahore: In Punjab, the people were desperate for flour, the price of ground flour at Rs 165 broke all previous records.
The bakers have indicated the increase in the prices of bread and bread. Mill owners and bakers demanded supply of subsidized wheat, flour.
Even the record supply of subsidized wheat to flour mills could not ensure the availability of flour. A 10 kg bag of government flour is still available at Rs 648 due to demand in the market, a 15 kg bag of private flour is sold at Rs 1800 to 1850. Flour prices hit a historic high of Rs 165 per kg.
Recently, after the appointment, Sekar Tree Food Punjab started checking the noses and flour mills by forming special teams to prevent smuggling.
Despite the daily release of 23 thousand metric tons of wheat from the government godowns, the citizens were facing severe difficulties in getting subsidized flour in the market.
According to the claim of the Food Department, 5 lakh bags of subsidized flour are being provided in Punjab every day, but the facts are contrary to this.
According to reliable sources, a record subsidized wheat is being released to Pankhab’s flour mills daily, the price of which is Rs 2300 per maund, while the price of private wheat in the open market has reached from Rs 4200 to Rs 4300 per maund.
Thus, there is a clear difference of 2000 rupees in price per maund due to which wheat is being smuggled from Punjab.
According to the sources, up to 40% of the quota released by the Punjab government is being smuggled, some of which is sold in the local market and the rest in other provinces.
Thus, according to the official statistics, there is plenty of subsidized flour in Punjab, but in practice, instead of the official figure of 5 lakh, 2 to 2.5 lakh bags of subsidized flour are being made daily.
Despite standing in long queues outside government points and trucks, majority of the people are unable to get flour even after hours.
According to the sources, Food Department of Punjab currently has 1.5 million tons of wheat, Punjab has asked for 2.5 million tons of wheat from the federal government and the federal government has also assured the supply of wheat to Pankhab. If the release of wheat from Punjab continues, then the reserves of Punjab will be exhausted by March 15, while the management of wheat for Ramadan will become difficult.
Currently, a 10 kg bag of government flour is not available in the market as per the demand, a 15 kg bag of private flour is being sold at a price of more than 1800 rupees. The mill owners have reduced the flour to 165 rupees per kg. Due to the expensive flour, the price of bread is also continuously increasing.
President of Muttahida Non-Bread Association Aftab Gul while talking to “Express” said that the Food Department is not providing us with subsidized wheat or flour, so we cannot buy expensive flour from the market and sell cheap bread.
Officials of the Flour Mill Association say that the daily rate of wheat in the market is 4300 rupees per maund. The cost of milling has increased due to expensive diesel and expensive electricity. has done
Secretary Food Punjab Mohammad Zaman Vatu while talking to “Express” said that he is aware of the difficulties of the people due to the flour crisis, he has formed special teams to prevent the smuggling of wheat flour. I will check myself.
He said that there is no place for corrupt officers in the department, they should correct their Qiblah, there is a zero tolerance policy against corruption, they have ordered an audit of the electricity bills of three months of flour mills receiving quota. All Deputy Directors. According to the wheat quota of the flour mills in their area, they will give a certificate of milling and electricity consumption.
He said that in order to prevent corruption and catch ghost flour mills, the number, address and quota amount of quota mills have been ordered to be posted on the website so that the public can access all the information.
He appealed that the public should check the flour mills in their area according to the data of the website to see if the flour mills are there and if there is, grinding is being done there. In this way, you should fulfill your responsibility and get subsidy from the national treasury. It can prevent misuse of billions of rupees to be given.
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